After months of organizing, documenting and union intervention, educators at Flushing HS succeeded in shutting down a principal’s initiative that isolated students from their peers. The now-defunct program had confined students to windowless classrooms for the bulk of the school day.

Teachers became alarmed in September when their principal announced the creation of the “Student Success Academy,” a plan billed as a way to address students who were roaming the halls. In reality, the plan isolated students in two windowless classrooms, apart from their peers, except for lunch and physical education.

Educators raised objections immediately.

“The staff was united against this,” said Amy Wolf, the school’s UFT chapter leader.

“Just morally, how can you do this?” asked David Ginsberg, an English teacher and UFT delegate. “No child deserves that. No child deserves to be treated like a criminal.”

Still, the program launched in late October with 28 students.

As the program unfolded, teachers began documenting its impact. According to data compiled by the staff, student selection appeared linked to lower academic performance rather than hallway-walking — the issue the program was purported to address.

By late November, it had become clear to educators that their concerns were being ignored.

“We knew what was happening was wrong,” said Wolf, “but we didn’t know the best way to tackle it.”

The turning point came when Wolf escalated the issue by reaching out to the UFT.

The data also raised equity concerns. Of the 28 students enrolled, 26 — about 93% — were Hispanic, even though Hispanics make up only 75% of the overall school population. Educators noted that many of the selected students were English language learners (ELLs).

Wolf explained that these students often score lower than their non-ELL peers in their first few years at an English-speaking school. “It’s not that they’re bad students,” Wolf said. “They need English support.”

The initiative was “a disservice to the ELL population,” Ginsberg said. “Part of improving your English is being exposed to English speakers in different settings, and by isolating them all day, we denied them that exposure.”

As the school year wore on, the educators brought up their concerns at monthly consultation meetings and paid attention to the program’s metrics.

Academic results did little to ease concerns. By the end of the semester, only four students had passed all seven of their classes.

“All school year, we asked, ‘Is it working? Where’s the evidence?’” said Wolf. “We finally got the answer, and the answer was, ‘No.’”

Liz McGovern, the UFT liaison to the city Department of Education’s Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning, contextualized the principal’s initiative as being an English as a new language (ENL) violation. Members filed formal ENL complaints on behalf of each student assigned to the Student Success Academy.

“Once the UFT came on board, it was like a light switch,” said Ginsberg.

After additional UFT outreach in mid-January, the program was shut down.

McGovern says that the credit belongs with Wolf and her colleagues. “They took on this fight and didn’t let up until their students were appropriately programmed,” she said.

Since then, the school has adopted less restrictive approaches, including increased hallway monitoring and redirection. For Wolf, the fix required was simple.

“If you’re not in class, you just need to be brought back to class,” said Wolf. “Isolating kids doesn’t work.”